Indians better than British students, even in English!

Last updated on: March 29, 2010 13:28 IST

It's official. Indian students are better than their British counterparts in schools, even in subjects like English.

Government figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families have revealed Indian and Chinese students get top grades than British children in every school subject at the secondary examination.

Thirty one per cent of Indian students and 55 per cent of Chinese pupils who took General Certificate of School Education exams last year achieved an A, according to the new figures released. Among white British pupils the figure was 16 per cent. For black African pupils it was 14 per cent, for Pakistani 13 per cent and black Caribbean 8 per cent, leading newspaper the Daily Mail reported.

The figures also show that, as well as forging ahead in maths, Indian and Chinese pupils outperform white British pupils in English. The Chinese pupils were most likely to get As, with 29 per cent getting the top mark in English, compared with 21 per cent of Indians, 15 per cent of white British, 11 per cent of black Africans and 9 per cent of Pakistanis.

Significant differences in achievement are also seen in geography, history, chemistry, biology, physics, French and religious education, the statistics have revealed.

Bristol University researchers suggested the attainment differences were down to contrasting attitudes to education between ethnic minority and white communities. Dr Deborah Wilson pointed to high aspirations among immigrant communities, who "almost by definition" are "keen to get on in life".

"With qualifications linked to social progress, it makes sense to focus particular effort at that point," she said.

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